hamster tumor

Question
We have a 1 year old campbell hamster. He is the absolute sweetest pet ever. He has a large abscess on his face near the front on his lip. I believe it bagan with a tooth that went bad. It is so bad that we he was unable to eat hard foods. we took him to the vet and she gave him steroids and antibiotic, but did not want to open  or remove the cist. which never went away and got bigger when the course was finished. it is so big that he has discharge from his nose and his eye swells shut.  He is is so much pain it makes us sad. My friend is a microbiologist who has done a lot of work on rodents. She is willing to help him out since we think helping him is worth the risk. I read an post by a vet in UK that told a woman to crush and dissolve (very specific amount) of baby aspirin and baby benadryl to sedate and anesthetize a hammy in a similar predicament. I can no longer find that comment with her instructions. Can you help?

Answer
Hi

I'm really sorry to hear about your hamster. I'm afraid I don't know about sedating hamsters. I have found another site - justanswer.com and there is a Dr Keri who is a vet on that site who talks about this technique so it might be worth contacting them. However if this was my hanster I would try and find another vet who can help. The problem is that most vets are ok with treating Syrians but it is almost impossible to calculate drug doses for dwarf hamsters therefore most vets don't want to risk it. However it sounds as though your hamster is in a very bad way therefore this might be his only option.

I do hope you find someone who can help.

Regards
Sheila